Hundreds rescued after Canada child-porn bust
Police say sweeping child-pornography probe that began with Toronto man has led to at least 386 victims being freed.
A child pornography bust in Toronto two years ago has led to the arrest of 341 people and rescue of 386 sexually abused children around the world, police have announced.
William Blair, Toronto Police Service chief, on Thursday told a press conference that undercover officers made contact in October 2010 with a Toronto man suspected of sharing child pornography.
Their investigation led to a company believed to be producing and distributing “child exploitation videos and images over the Internet,” said a police statement.
The 42-year-old’s home and business were raided seven months later, and he was charged with operating a website that sold and distributed child pornography.
Police said the man “paid various people to film children for the purpose of creating movies for sale on his website”.
The website Azovfilms.com allegedly earned him $3.8m annually.
More than 45 terabytes of data were seized. And police subsequently tracked down the website’s customers.
The United States Postal Inspection Service was involved in the probe, as were authorities in Sweden, Spain, Australia, South Africa, Hong Kong, among others.